Audience members held against their will on The Voice2:26

Guy Sebastian and Dave Hughes have weighed into the drama surrounding the latest season of The Voice.

Earlier in the week Grant Denyer dropped a bombshell on his 2Day FM breakfast show when he claimed audience members at a recent taping of the reality show were held against their will.

“They were running three hours over and the audience had already been there for nearly nine hours for a record,” Denyer said on radio.

“The staff had to lock all the doors to the recording studio and they manned the doors and refused to let anybody out. People were trying to storm out and leave and say, ‘You can’t stop me!’ And they saying, ‘Yes we can!’

“It got so bad that audience members started ringing the cops,” Denyer said. “They were calling triple-0 at the exits saying, ‘I’m being held against my will at Studio 3 in Fox studios at The Voice set.’”

A spokesman hit back at Denyer in a statement to news.com.au, saying, “As for Grant Denyer’s ridiculous claims, no police were called to the Knockouts record, no doors were ever locked and no audience members are ever forced to stay.”

The 2Day FM host said on air this morning that he stands by his claim, saying, “It is flat out 100 per cent true and they’re trying to smear me!”

Dave Hughes, whose drivetime radio show airs on the same network, called into the 2Day FM breakfast show this morning and backed up Denyer’s story.

The comedian said he played squash with a staff member from The Voice earlier this week who confirmed the story was accurate.

“Yes, it is a true story,” Hughes said on air this morning. “He (Hughesy’s mate) was in the lock-in of The Voice and someone came up to him and said, ‘Someone’s rung the police’.

“Grant is exactly right and for Channel 9 to say what he said is ridiculous is wrong. Grant, you are right.”

Dave Hughes is in Denyer’s corner.Source:Supplied

Grant Denyer.Source:News Corp Australia

Guy Sebastian, who is a coach on the upcoming season of The Voice, then went on Kyle and Jackie O’s KIIS FM breakfast show this morning and dismissed Denyer’s claims.

“No one was locked in,” the singer told the radio duo.

“It (the taping) did run over. Sometimes the shoots go quickly and it ends on time and then other days you feel a bit sorry for the audience because they’ve got to sit through stuff. But there’s a comedian there and maybe he just wasn’t as funny that night,” Sebastian joked.

The Voice coach added, “There was spokesman for the NSW Police who said there were no police called.”

Sebastian also responded to another claim from a singer in Adelaide who said yesterday that he was “guaranteed” by a producer of The Voice that he’d make it through to the semi-finals of the show if he agreed to appear as a contestant on last year’s season.

“Early last year they found my online profiles and my music and then they reached out to me via email to ask if I wanted go on the show,” singer Thom Phillips told the Mix 102.3 breakfast show in Adelaide.

“They rang me up, the head honcho producer rang me up … They said, ‘We can promise you if you do decide to join the show that you will get through to the semis at least.’

“That’s what they said, ‘We can guarantee you, wink, that you’ll get through to the later rounds on the show.’”

Sebastian shot down the singer’s claim on KIIS FM this morning, saying he’s never been told who to turn his chair for in the Blind auditions.

“Look, I’ve done shows before and the thing I love about this so far is they give us full rein as coaches,” Sebastian said.

“Sometimes they (producers) do come past and they might say, ‘You’re gonna love this one,’ or, ‘I bet you’re gonna go in on this one.’ They’re trying to build a bit of excitement and then sometimes they suck … and I’m like, ‘What are you talking about? That was terrible.’”

A spokesman for The Voice also dismissed the claim that coaches are told to turn their chairs for certain artists, saying, “Equally ridiculous is the suggestion that any promises are made to any artists about how far they will progress in the competition”.